


Time and Time Again

by Galaxy_Phoenix



Category: Dragon Quest I, Dragon Quest Series
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, First time writing for Dragon Quest I, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Growing Up Together, I was on a kick and realized that DQ1 did not have a lot of content, Innocence, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, So here we are, first time writing for this ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:16:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27810619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galaxy_Phoenix/pseuds/Galaxy_Phoenix
Summary: I have a headcanon that Alef and Princess Gwaelin knew each other before the event of the game itself so this is an exploration into what that would look like.This ship doesn't get a lot of love so have a cute fic!
Relationships: Alef/Princess Gwaelin (Dragon Quest)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Time and Time Again

Their meeting, and how it all started, was not only an accident but sheer coincidence. 

Little Princess Gwaelin hadn’t expected to receive a new friend in the castle gardens. One moment she was tending to some tulips and the other she was greeted by a boy similar in age. It would seem as though he somehow got through the thick rosebush wall that blocked the gardens from the common land.

“Oh goodness, are you alright? You have a cut on your arm!” She cried worriedly.

“Y-Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry for giving you a fright.”

“Please, allow me to mend that for you. It will get worse if not attended to!”

“Are you sure?”

“Please, I insist!”

So he let her tend to her work. 

He was a bit of a shy boy and very sweet. Gwaelin believed that he must be part of the many travelers that came and went in Tantegel. 

“Are you the Princess that resides here?” the boy asked.

“Yes, I am Gwaelin, Princess of Tantegel, and daughter of King Lorik. May I ask your name?” Gwaelin asked, curtseying out of politeness.

“Oh! I should’ve mentioned it earlier. I’m Alef, page of Sir Arthfael.”

"Oh, how wonderful! Knights are always good to have in the world. You get to travel and help people!"

"Yeah, that was why I'm training to be one! It's a lotta hard work but it's worth it."

"I imagine that it must be. There, all better!"

Alef examines the new bandage that the Princess had wrapped around his arm, feeling all the more better already.

“I hope the tear on your sleeve will not cause you grief with your Master.”

“I’ll be alright, don’t worry. I have a feeling that he knew it was going to happen at some point anyway.”

The sky was beginning to take on its warm colors of the sunset in the distance. They both had to get back to their respective homes soon so they bidded each other farewell. Gwaelin felt a pang in her heart as Alef disappeared with a smile behind the rose wall and was gone. She stared at the rose wall until one of the maids went to fetch her for supper and so she left to return to the castle, now thinking about the boy she met in the garden. 

\-------

Gwaelin did eventually meet Alef again a few years later in the gardens. It was discovered that he had gone up in rank to become a squire and looked stronger than the last time they met.

“You came back!”

“I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see you again when coming back into town. How is the castle? Is your father well?”

“All is well in Tantegel Castle, I can say. Come I must show you around in the castle gardens.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to get in trouble for sneaking an outsider.”

“Do not fret! Father is doing his studies and most of the royal servants do not come out at this hour. Come, I can show you around the gardens!”

That did sound nice to Alef, so with her taking his hand, they walked in the gardens under the bright, white moon lingering overhead. Gwaelin knew every type of flower by heart and Alef eagerly listened as she happily rambled. 

Her hand was as soft as her voice was airy and light. Her voice carried a certain gentleness to it, like the kind that could soothe a child’s nightmare or to calm a frightened animal. 

He even noted the freckles on her face and while was too shy to say it, he thought they were cute. 

After some time, they both found a stone bench to sit down at and admire the surrounding scenery. The moon illuminated the flowers, giving them a silver hue and making the white flowers, in particular, seem to glow. It even made the entire garden absolutely magical. It was very different from the world that he had at home. Home was 

“This is beautiful…”

“Is it not? Whenever I feel the day has not been kind, I always come out here to feel better.”

“I would, too, if I had the opportunity.”

They sat on the bench for a few more quiet moments before Alef finally found the courage to speak up.

“I… I made this for you. I hope you’d like it.”

In Alef’s hands was a wood-carved flower with a metal clip in the back of it, meant to be worn as a hair-pin. The petals of the flower were purple and the center a bright yellow. It certainly was charming and Gwaelin adored it.

“I love it. It really is a work of art and it is rather thoughtful that you made this with me in mind.”

“I-I thought it would suit you nicely.” 

“Oh, I adore it! Would it be alright to ask you to put it on me?”

She had to keep from giggling as his face went bright red under remnants of the moonlight. It really was cute to see him all flustered and she could feel his trembling hands as he carefully went to put the clip in as if he was terrified to leave even a scratch. 

She probably didn’t mind too much but Alef didn’t to be on her father’s hit-list for leaving a scratch on his daughter somehow.

“Have you got it?”

“Yes, that should do it.”

Alef had placed the flower clip just above her left ear, and just like he had hoped, the colors of the hair clip matching almost perfectly. 

Their moment of serenity was shattered by the sound of castle servants wandering about the gardens. They had come to look for the Princess of course. Alef and Gwaelin both fled from their scene to reach the rose wall once more. They had just enough time for their goodbyes.

“I hadn’t realized how late it got. You should head back to the castle before you get in trouble.” Alef advised. 

“Do not fret. My father had not spoken a word when it happened last time and it is a common habit of mine. You must hurry before they find you and accuse preposterous things.”

“I will, but promise me that you’ll be in good health until we meet again.”

“I shall, and you the same.”

“I will.”

Alef disappeared through the rose wall and faded into the night but he remained strong in her memory.

\-------

She could hear the roars of the dragon in the cave and the yells of the brave knight trying to slay the beast. The walls were covered with colored lights and shadows as she watched from afar. Although many have failed to rescue her, she had hope that the boy she had met all of those years ago in the castle gardens would save her. 

The dragon gave a pained howl to the heavens before the ground rumbled as it collapsed. The only sign of movement was the small glow of a torch coming closer to around the corner. Having fallen due to the ground shaking earlier, she rose to her feet to see her savior.

“Alef…”

The pure relief on his weary face was illuminated by the torchlight as he had finally found the Princess alive and well. 

Gwaelin noted how weak he had become from the constant fighting and traveling and upon seeing his sword dropping from his weak grip, approached him quickly and took the torch out of his other hand. Setting it on the ground and ensuring that it would not cause a fire to anything, she turned back to Alef. She was shocked at how beaten and bruised he was and set about trying to patch him up.

“Ah, I can get this-”

“Please allow me, you have exhausted your efforts enough.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Gwaelin replied firmly. It was the very least she could do since he came all this way and saved her from the beast. 

Alef conceded and allowed her that, so she went about to heal him. 

“This almost reminds me of when we were children and I helped to wrap your arm after getting caught in the rose wall.”

Alef did remember that with fondness; they were only children then and she was so insistent on helping him. The difference now is that she has minor healing magic to help move things along. 

Her emotions slowly getting to her, she couldn’t help but place her hands on his cheeks, just needing to know if he was really right in front of her.

“It heartens me to see you alive. I was so worried…” 

Gwaelin’s feelings were overtaking her to the point that tears were already starting to fall. She had honestly thought that she would never see him again and there he was, weary but not broken. 

Then she saw his eyes watery as well. He had traversed through all kinds of danger by himself and while the people in the villages were nice, there was a certain comfort in the warm touch of someone close to you. Gwaelin can feel Alef melting into her hands and feeling calm for the first time in who knows how long, even feeling his hands on her own with the gentlest touch.

He’s crying, too.

“As was I... I was worried about what those villains had done to harm you. I don’t think… I could ever live with myself if anything happened to you.”

They both broke as they went to quickly embrace in the tightest hug they could muster. Alef felt Gwaelin become weak in the knees so he lowered them both to the ground, still holding her. 

It had been a long day for both of them so neither of them wanted to move, being too wrapped in wanting to remain in a familiar embrace. 

\-------

With every minute that passed, Gwaelin would steadily wait for her knight to return. However, her nights were restless and she ate very little. She would hope that her knight would come back to her father's castle, to see him once more. 

She would think about their journey back from the cave, being held in his arms. He felt assuring to her and there was a certain gentleness in how he carried her. Not to mention, how he spoke was comforting in a quiet, sweet tone. 

If he was up for the idea of marriage, she would say yes in a heartbeat. He was a good man, she believed.

It was there in her father's throne room that a messenger from the kingdom gates burst through the doors to send the message "He is here! He has returned alive, Your Majesty!"

Gwaelin could almost cry as she and her father dashed to the front courtyard of the castle. There he was, in the center of town with the common folk in celebration. She couldn't stand still so she stepped down the white marble steps with her father right behind her. 

"How is your health, sir knight? You look as though you have seen bloody war." King Lorik questioned. 

"I am injured severely but I can still walk," Alef responds bluntly. It broke Gwaelin's heart to see how beaten her knight had become, even worse than when they last saw each other. 

"You must come to the castle immediately so that the doctors can tend to you." 

Alef goes to start walking but Gwaelin catches him before he could stumble. She holds onto his free hand with both of her own, "Please let me help you, Sir Alef. You look faint and you are greatly wounded."

He was having difficulty in refusing that face and she was insistent so he took her help and with her support, they all walked up the stairs back to the castle. 

Alef later found himself surrounded by the best doctors Tantegel Castle had and was patched up quickly. He found himself alone with his own room but Gwaelin would keep him company with her harp. The soft melodies that resounded from the instrument were pleasant. When he became more able to walk, he would accompany Gwaelin through the castle gardens and relax a while. 

It was there that he learned that her great-grandmother was the one to put the gardens in place after the castle had suffered a raid during her time. It was said that the abundance of flowers gave the kingdom hope to pursue a better future and hope. 

With the rainbow as the color palette, Alef understood how much it meant to her to see the garden kept up. 

The gardens themselves are beautiful in their own right, containing almost every kind of flower imaginable that were cared for and attended to, as it should be.

She even looked like she was one of the flowers herself and she shone brighter than the sun with her golden yellow dress. With her harp, she would sing out to the wind with the graceful sounds of her fingers strumming the strings. A gentle breeze blew by and made the entire scene even more magical.

If he wasn't already in love with her before, he definitely would've right there. If loving her meant that he would one day be king, so be it.

His heart would always be for her. She deserved the best and he was going to be the one to make sure he did.

At that moment, he would gather the strength to ask that one question and it was in her great-grandmother's gardens at her father's castle that he proposed to be her king and love in life.

“Princess Gwaelin, daughter of King Lorik and Lady of Tantegel Castle, may I have the Honor to always be by your side as your King and to marry you with Love and Grace?”

She knew it would be a matter of time before the idea of marriage would come up but to see him be so sure and yet so nervous about the whole thing made it all the more genuine. She could see the goodness in him and the kindness in his heart, knowing that although he wasn’t born from royalty, he was still fit to be king.

There was nothing else in the world that she wanted more. 

“ _Yes._ ”

\-------

Tantegel Castle was rife with celebration and joyous happiness. The wedding between the Princess of Tantegel and her knight-turned-king were the guests of honor. Alef couldn’t keep from smiling, especially upon seeing his wife-to-be looking radiant in her white wedding dress for the occasion. She was even wearing the flower clip that he made her as a boy all those years ago. 

It still suited her beautifully, even more perhaps. 

Taking her hand gently, they walked together to the altar, to become official and begin a new chapter in the story.


End file.
